Typhoon Dujuan: 275 flights cancelled in Japan and 1.6 million people urged to evacuate
The passage of Typhoon Dujuan has highlighted critical issues and stimulated a growing market for innovative solutions and policies to prevent natural disasters.
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Due to Typhoon Dujuan, 275 flights in Japan have been cancelled today, and an evacuation order has been issued for more than 1.6 million residents in Tokyo and neighbouring areas. The typhoon is located approximately 130 kilometres south of Katsuura, near Tokyo, with winds reaching 144 kilometres per hour; over 9,000 homes have been left without electricity in the prefectures of Chiba, Saitama and Shizuoka, as well as in other areas neighbouring Tokyo. Warnings have also been issued regarding the risk of landslides in Tokyo and the prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa and Shizuoka. ‘In these areas (under alert), the rain is likely to continue as the typhoon moves northwards,’ Takuya Hosomi of the Japan Meteorological Agency told the press. “Several parts of the city are flooded. It is therefore dangerous to travel by car,” warned Takashi Matsuo, the mayor of Kamakura, on X. Japan Airlines has cancelled 120 domestic and 15 international flights, whilst All Nippon Airways has cancelled 140 domestic flights. Some railway companies have suspended services on several lines in Tokyo and the surrounding regions.
783 millimetres of rain
The torrential rain brought by Typhoon 25 to the Tokyo area – with flooded streets, disrupted transport links and hundreds of cancelled flights – has brought the issue of natural disaster preparedness back to the forefront in Japan. This need – driven by earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and increasingly intense rainfall – is changing household habits and creating a rapidly growing market for small and medium-sized enterprises specialising in emergency products.
In the capital, heavy rain has caused flooding on the roads and problems with the drainage system in several neighbourhoods. In Edogawa, in the Rinkai-cho area, 256.5 millimetres of rain fell between midday on 19 September and 4 pm today. The situation was even more serious on the islands that are administratively part of Tokyo: in Oshima-Motomachi, 783 millimetres of rain were recorded over the same period, and the highest level of landslide warning was issued for Oshima.
This emergency follows a series of disasters which, in recent months, have further heightened awareness of disaster prevention in Japan. Following the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck the western prefecture of Kumamoto in July, several regions across the country have been hit by exceptional rainfall, resulting in flooding of homes and cars and disruption to transport services.
Demand for safety equipment
It is mainly small and medium-sized enterprises that are meeting this growing demand. One of the most widely discussed issues concerns conditions in evacuation centres, which are generally set up in schools, sports halls and community centres, where the lack of private spaces can cause significant discomfort, particularly during prolonged stays.
